After a few months of many brainstorming sessions and an elaborate design process, finally, we, The KTH Formula Student team, are ready with the design of our upcoming car eV14! And, we will be presenting the design of our car to the world, tomorrow. So come meet us and be mind blown!

What to expect?

Making a new car every year is not an easy job to do and at the same time is the most fun thing a student can be involved in, definitely! We learn from our alumni, we learn from our mistakes and practical learning is the most valuable outcome of being a part of such an amazing student project. So, now that we have completed our design phase, it’s time to start our manufacturing process. It’s time to get our hands dirty to build the beast of a car that it will be, The eV14! The fastest, safest, most robust, rule-compliant and the smartest formula student car ever made!

Making the “Awesome Car” is our goal! And, no compromising on the awesome part. You’ll know when you see it 🙂

So, at the event, you can meet all of our subgroups within the team, like powertrain, electronics, machine design, vehicle dynamics and more. Talk to us, ask us questions and give us ideas. We learn from each other and we grow together!

Btw, We have a big announcement to make at the event. A huge step in the history of KTH Formula Student. An embarkment that will lead to a great achievement! Know more about it at the event, let me not break the surprise now.

So wear your snow boots and walk to Brinellvägen tomorrow, see you all at the presentation.

Getting to be a part of the KTH Formula Student team is undeniably the most amazing thing that happened to me at KTH! I want to do my master’s in Electric Power Engineering with a special focus on Electric vehicles and this is the best team to start the journey with! 😀

Who are we?

KTH Formula Student team is a project run entirely by students, where we build our own race car to compete in the Formula Student competitions. The team was founded in the year 2003 by Dr. Fredrik Westin, a former PhD student at KTH. Since then, years have passed, many versions of our car have been made and the project has witnessed many student teams every year, one thing that remained within us and has grown on us is the spirit to make the best and the Most Amazing Car! We are The KTH Formula Student Team- the coolest Engineering project team on the campus! Ever!!

What is Formula Student?

Formula Student is one of the most renowned motorsport competition in Europe that is entirely meant for engineering students. Student teams across the globe design and build a one-seat race car to compete with each other in several events- static and dynamic as we call it. The static events include judging the design, cost report and design presentation of the teams whereas the dynamic events include tests in acceleration, endurance, energy efficiency etc. We can talk more about the events in the later posts 🙂

The competition is based on the assumption that the car is manufactured for production and so it is important for us to design and manufacture the car in that perspective- an awesome car at an economical price! Formula Student is partnered by many acclaimed industry giants to encourage students to be innovative and to inspire them to take up a career in engineering.

What is so special about the team??!

Well, to begin with, we are a bunch of 80 students, from different academic backgrounds and of course different countries, and, we all work together to manufacture the most amazing super cool car ever! I’m not even exaggerating that! We design, manufacture and test every component of the car ourselves! Most of the components are manufactured in-house at our garage on the campus.

That’s not all. The experience one can gain from being in the team is immense! We are much like a proper automotive company. We have multiple subgroups within the project that handle tasks related to Powertrain, Electronics, Vehicle Dynamics, Aerodynamics, Composites, etc. We even have a management team to handle human resources. We also follow standard industry practices not only in the making of our car but also in how we operate within the team. Considering, this is a project that was founded in 2003 and we make a new car every year, we maintain all the information and documents specific to each year’s car in our data repository for version control. We use standard communication tools and have web-based project management workspaces. Since I have two years of industry experience, I can tell you that this team and the practices within the team mirrors a typical industry work environment and this is exactly why it is such a great opportunity to be a part of KTH Formula Student Team!

The learning is immeasurable, not only do we gain the knowledge about practical applications in our own track but also end up learning about the car as a whole ’cause of the fact that we collaborate with all the other sub-groups within the project. Such a holistic learning experience is beyond comparison, indeed!

Also, we are not only backed by different labs at KTH but also by our awesome industry partners. Apart from providing us with monetary, hardware and software support, our partners also give us their valuable professional and academic guidance that has always been the shaping factor of the team and has made us who we are today. Also, the students in the team have the opportunity to do their thesis within the project, or also in collaboration with our industry partners and the team.

So, now, do you agree with me that it’s indeed a dream project for KTH students? Definitely! 🙂

How did I make it into the team?

Everything in Sweden, in general, is driven by well-defined procedures, and KTH Formula Student Team is no different! We had a very comprehensive interview process to recruit this year’s new student members.

There was an application process that tested our knowledge through quizzes. We even had specific tasks assigned to applicants to gauge our knowledge and interest in our chosen track. For example, one of the tasks I had to do was to model a controller for the motor using Simulink. This was followed by a one-to-one interview process with the project leaders. And, cracking which, led me to be a part of the team 🙂

So, now I am working as part of the powertrain group in the project. Oh! wait! I am still in the probation period right now. We’ll be confirmed in a months time. Anyway, I am quite hopeful about it. Haha, I told you that we mirror industry standards. Believe me now?

Well, Let me not get the post too long, So stay tuned to hear more about the car, the project and our plans for this year. We are planning something amazing….wait till next week to know about it 🙂

I am Sindhuja Balaji, I come from India – Incredible India! I am studying the master’s programme in Electric Power Engineering. I am a poet, I write songs, a nature lover, and I can pencil sketch, too. If you happen to meet me, I can probably draw you your portrait! Click here to know more…